Okonjo-Iweala Vows Tighter Budget Amid Decline in Oil Revenue

Vanguard

16 August 2011

Okonjo-Iweala Vows Tighter Budget Amid Decline in Oil Revenue

Abuja — MINISTER of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who takes office this week, yesterday, vowed to tighten fiscal policy amid falling oil prices and turbulent global financial markets.

Prices for oil, which account for 80 per cent of fiscal revenue, have slumped 14 per cent in New York since July 26, reaching as low as $75.71 a barrel on Aug. 9. At the same time, economic growth in the U.S., which sources a fifth of its crude imports from Nigeria, is slowing.

Okonjo-Iweala said in a telephone interview from Washington on August 12, her last day as a managing director of the World Bank. "We need to tighten fiscal policy. We need to get on a better fiscal path."